Liberty and justice for all United States persons abroad

The Isaac Brock Society

99 thoughts on “Flaherty Resigns!”

  1. RE: navigating the Brock ship
    It really helps when a thread has a short title like “Flaherty Resigns” or “Questions for My MP”. The Recent Comments can then hold so much more and there’s less likelihood of something scrolling off the bottom before I have a chance to get to it. I say keep ’em brief and try to avoid long, long titles, whenever possible. I really do try to keep up throughout the day but I rely on the Recent Comments list to do that. Maybe others have a better way to keep up? BTW, on threads like the “Renunciation” thread which do not have a direct link to the latest comments (like this one does — right below the title) I go to the URL, delete “comment” and everything thereafter and then resend. That gets me to the last page of comments too. When I finish reading the Recent Comments I screen shot a few of the ones at the top to remind me where to pick up next time. Simple stuff but maybe some newbies haven’t had a chance to learn some shortcuts yet. Does anyone else have some useful Brock tricks? Of course, don’t forget the Archives are always there to help research expeditions (dark grey bar at the top of the page).

  2. @molly
    I would be willing to speak to anyone anonymously. I am new here also and only minimally well versed in the nuances of this mess. What I do know a LOT about is my situation in particular and even at that will be needing a lawyer for advice.
    @wren
    Yes, I am past beyond grateful for what this group has done. They have actually saved what little sanity I have left. I certainly was NOT complaining in my initial post. Boy, furthest thing from my mind I’ll tell ya. I was just fantasizing about how if everyone who I am frantically emailing and boasting about this site to actually showed up (yes, I said it is a fantasy) that it might go belly-up. Just dreaming that IBS would get as many hits as twitter during the Oscars!

  3. @all

    as wonky as this site is some of the time i love its simplicity.

    to me this website is like from back in the mid ’70s the sleeper cars. they were all beat to heck on the outside, perhaps the dash board had a few parts missing and the door colors did not match the body but when you stepped on the gas that baby jumped.

    apperances are not everything and while yes this site has some limitations it does work. just because my dog is blind in one eye and going deaf in both ears i don’t put her down i just work a little bit harder to get her to do what i want. kinda like this website….it does take a bit of work…..

    lets not forget what this site was conceived as (and please correct me if i am wrong) it was ment to be a clearing house of information about fatca and the fight against it. nothing more nothing less.

    i envision the day when fatca is struck down and there will not be a need for this website ever again. may not happen tomorrow or the next day but it is my belief it will happen.

    the first day of college in 1983 my professor wrote on the green board KISS and said those 4 letters will be the best guide you will ever have for the rest of your life……kinda like this website is now…….

  4. @ TheMom re: ” In this situation, the teacher did nothing, but that is not the case in our situation.”

    Right after I posted my schoolyard bully analogy, I knew you were going to say something like that, and I thought of going back in to expand on my comment (no edit function, and I had to go out). I wanted to add that the teacher felt guilty for not saving my child from the bully stealing her lunch money, so the teacher gave my kid an apple so that she wouldn’t starve. The bully had left the apple on the teacher’s desk in order to get in the teacher’s good graces for being such an asshole to my kid.

  5. @em – I’ll generally catch new posts while at a computer but I keep up with comment threads on my phone. If I subscribe to a thread I get an email for each comment and my mail client keeps track of what I’ve read. Down side is the spam gets emailed out before it is filtered for the board.

    @charm – Oh no, I wasn’t suggesting you were complaining! Sorry about that.

  7. @charl…..Thanks for offering, but I talked to the producer and they can’t interview anyone anonymously. I do have someone else who has already renounced and is “out” who has volunteered. We’ve missed the window today, but hopefully later in the week.

  8. @TheMom re: “Don’t get me wrong, I hate EVERY part of this situation, but let’s place the blame where it belongs…squarely on the shoulders of US politicians.”

    As a Canadian living in Canada, I expect my government to protect me from bullying attempts of foreign countries. Yes, there would be no issue if USA was not trying to cram FATCA and CBT down our throats, but MY PROTECTOR IS CANADA, much like my kids protector at school is her teacher. People in a position of authority or power, who have an obligation to protect those who are vulnerable, but do nothing or play lip service by doing very little, are just as guilty of wrong (perhaps MORE SO) than the perpetrator.

    As another example, a parent is obligated to protect her child from danger, and can be found criminally negligent if she fails to do so. Canada is being criminally negligent in its failure to protect me from the abuse of the American government – and Flaherty played a major role in that negligence. Big hairy deal that SOME of our registered investment vehicles are exempted.

    As an aside, some registered investment vehicles are reportable under FATCA. For example, I have a registered locked in retirement account that I cannot touch until age 55 that is FATCA reportable.

  9. @ Wren
    Good tips for those with phones that have more than a few numbered buttons and a receiver (like my old fashioned land line). I don’t do the “Notify me” bit because my e-mail service is so clunky and slow (since they “improved it”) that I only endure that aggravation once a day — if that. I forget that for those who have super techie devices and abilities there are much faster means available than for the likes of me. Thanks for your input.

  10. @Chears & Polly

    RE: the suicide of the young investment banker

    Having had some severe difficulties in periods of my life, I cannot feel good about anyone taking their own life no matter who they are or what they do. Some of us are lucky enough to get the help we need and some are not. What is there to celebrate in such a sad situation? I agree wholeheartedy with Polly, it is a tragedy. I doubt you have to worry about someone else posting these before you do Chears. I still would be willing to listen to why you think this is such a good thing, if you want to explain it.

  11. @Tricia

    No, it is not a good thing. I think that sometimes people confuse their own pain with that of others, and don’t get that we all come from the same place.

  13. @themom – don’t disagree with your overall sentiment. Thus far the US has not – at least as far as I know – tried to block former expats at the border nor threatened them with arrest. However, they may do so when armed with a fistful of FATCA data courtesy of the CRA and I don’t think my government has a right to make my life more inconvenient or threatening at the us border than that of any other Canadian. I agree the root cause is bad law and bad policy from blinkered chauvinistic small minded politicians in the US. Still, I am within my rights to tell Canada to keep its nose out of my private affairs except for purely Canadian purposes and in common with every other Canadian.

    Not sure who commented in this thread about having to go to the states and get a social security card in order to comply. The aspect that got my attention was the insistence by SS bureaucrats (I love their acronym!) on accounting for every year abroad. What are they looking for? An anchor baby (that’s what they call them) says ” I have never lived in the us and don’t want your passport”. The IRS says “you have to ‘come clean’ before you can relinquish – go get a social security card”. Then the SS says “prove you are American – where have you been the last thirty years”? I know a case exactly like that and the person said “ok, then I’m not American. Have it your way!” My point is that the premise of the matter is the person hasn’t been lived in the us forever – they admit it and indeed proclaim it – and the SS wants proof of when they were OUT of the US? I don’t get the relevance. If birth alone is not enough to tag us, then kindly leave us alone unless or until we ask for one of your stinking passports. It seems the government can’t make up its mind.

  14. @All, is it just me, or do others sometimes read @whoever responses and think, ‘What does that have to do with what that other person wrote’?

  16. Anne Frank,

    You say I have to prove all of that with tons of documentation for something I don’t want in the first place, USA? I say the onus is on you to come up with that — and if you can’t, I should be free to go. I don’t want your US citizenship or your US passport. Keep it.

  20. Great Flaherty resigned after he strewed us signing FATCA with Harper, etc..
    Harper should resign too we don’t want any of those in the government who are/were involved in that agreement. Traitors! incompetents!
    A referendum should be done to get them out of there, where they are sitting to get our money from our taxes!!!

  21. CALL 1-888-416-8333 – CBC “Cross-Country Checkup” re FLAHERTY LEGACY.
    Give you phone number and brief of what you’d like to say and they MAY call you back to be ON-AIR.

  22. Gave up my US citizenship in 2012, didn’t bother spread accounts around with smaller sums.
    It was difficult to do emotionally although it’s not really changing anything.
    I gather Facta investigation is a multi part process:

    Accounts over the specified value will be examined
    If bank suspects account owned by a US person are they obligated to contact the customer to confirm?

    If determined (or just suspect) customer is a US person they are obligated (or just may) report this info to the CRA?

    CRA then will (or may?) determine of person is a US person based on personal contact (or internal records?).

    My CDN passport shows USA as place of birth.

    That said, if have renounced and IRS knows it, even if reported, they will a) drop any further action or b) investigate further?

    If there is a dispute how is it handled. Flaherty said that Canada won’ collect on behalf of the IRS if person was a Canadian citizen at the time the liability arose . That’s true for penalties but is it true for taxes owed and how can that be challenged?

    My only assets in the USA are an IRA. Of course going through my stuff with a fine tooth comb someone could conceivable come up with some US tax owed as I wasn’t aware of all the issues until a few years ago and then decided to get the hell out of Dodge!

  23. One good thing about Flaherty resigning is that I think we’ll see much more competition on mortgage rates and less government interference with mortgages in general. The banks no longer have to dread getting a call from Flaherty when they offer a 5 year fixed rate below 3%.

    My current lender just dropped their 5 year rate by almost a half percent and since my mortgage is up for renewal in the next 5 months, I’m thrilled.

    On the other hand, the fact that they dropped so much so fast means the economy is really not on the mend. A half percentage point drop usually means the world is ending! I see this also as a clue that the Americans have a very hard year ahead of them despite them backing off on quantitative easing. I wouldn’t be surprised if they cranked up the printing presses again. Things are much worse than the US lets on.

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